Arranged to Him

To my Ex

She looked Turkish, at least, with dark black hair and warm honey-brown eyes that complimented her fair skin tone perfectly. I had no idea why he would marry me over her.

"Merhaba! Wow, it is very tense here. Awkward. I flew in from Izmir for this?" The woman asked with a laugh, looking between the two angry lovers bemused before giving James a graceful hug.

"Another Ex? How many do you have, James?" I asked him as I finished cleaning and started the Turkish women's tea.

"Oh, James is a playboy. He has tons of exes. I'm not one, though. Happily married here. My name is Esme. Sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding. I had a modeling shoot that couldn't be canceled." Esme explained kindly, wrapping me in a hug without a second thought. I grimaced since my ribs still hurt from my cousin's beating, but I didn't say anything.

"I invited her so you could go shopping together," James said in a way that I felt meant he had called her for something else entirely.

"Right. No exes on the married couple's first day together. Your purse is barking anyway." Esme said, grabbing a giant white fluffy barking purse off the counter. A tiny, dorky-looking dog peeked out, and I jumped away disgusted.

"You carry a dog in your purse?" I asked, horrified and shocked.

"Oh, that's just toodles. She's loud but harmless. I think all the yelling bothered her. Isn't that right, toodles?" She said, lifting the small dog and letting it lick her face. I was still a bit queasy from the drinking last night, so I started gagging.

"Okay, out with you, Amanda, the devil. You can try to destroy their lives at a later time." Esme said happily and roughly, pushing a protesting Amanda out of the apartment into the elevator that hadn't yet closed. When we were finally alone, Esme came to me, inspecting me with a frown while James left to put a shirt on, I hoped.

"What's this?" She asked harshly, holding up my arms.

"I didn't want to marry," I explained evenly, sure she would understand. Her eyes widened, and she hissed with pity, delicately running her hands over the bruise.

"I see that. Despicable people." She said, shaking her head with disproval.

"Surely your family did the same when you married?" I asked, confused, grabbing my arms and folding them to hide them.

"No, of course not. My mom will throw an occasional slipper, but she had no say in who I married." Esme said, not waiting for me to pour her tea and pouring some herself casually.

"You know it's not normal to force people to marry or beat them, right?" She asked me firmly, watching my expression closely. What Amanda lacked in intelligence, she had.

"Uh...I just assumed it was a right of passage. My family seemed to act like it was normal." I said, stammering a bit, thrown off by the revelation. I sat down on the couch, and she brought me tea, which was very abnormal.

"It's not. Your family are crooks and do a disservice to the Turkish culture. We were actually one of the first countries to popularize the notion of love marriages." She said, smiling with pride and nodding to herself.

"James was perplexed then, I'm sure," I said, realizing that was probably why he refused to sleep with me.

"I'm sure that's why he called me here. We've been friends for twenty years now. He came here often during the summer as a kid and routinely visits. He's a nice man. I would stay with him if I were you. What the tabloids say about him is usually wrong. At the end of the day, he just wants someone who wants to be with him for him, not his money." She explained thoughtfully, quite fond of James. I fiddled with the leather couch stitching and slowly sipped the warm, hot tea.

"I don't want his money. I'm used to a very simple life. I just want to make him happy." I said softly and truthfully. She gave a small smile.

"Well, in that case, let's get you covered up so I can take you shopping!" She said, quickly finishing her tea and waving for me to do the same.

James refused to let us leave without him and Waverly, but thankfully, he put on a white shirt and some black sweatpants with a large logo called Adidas. I wasn't sure why he chose such a weird decoration, but I didn't comment in case he got upset.

I had anticipated going to the bazaar where all the best deals were. Instead, we went to a white marble mall filled with stores with delicately organized products arranged in a beautiful yet simple way. Every single item in the mall was vastly overpriced, I was sure of it, and the people who walked down the extensive walkways were wearing fancy clothes and way too much make-up. I felt plain and ordinary compared to them, so I refused to go into every shop James offered until he reached the point of exasperation.

"Esme, take her into this shop and do not let her leave until she buys something, will you? My VP of marketing is calling me, and I can't ignore this call." He said, agitated and leaving us without even saying bye to me.